After alleged molestations, Evergreen School District riles parents with letter

The Evergreen School District has sent parents a defensive letter appearing to partly excuse its response after a parent reported a teacher possibly molesting a child in his classroom.

Instead of filing a report with Child Protective Services, the district itself looked into and dismissed the allegation.

The letter also announced the district plans to enroll a sampling of students in an abuse-prevention program early next year.

The move comes as Evergreen teacher Craig Chandler faces trial next month on five counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under age 14. Lyn Vijayendran, who was principal of O.B. Whaley elementary school, was convicted last month of failing to report suspicions of child abuse.

In addition, the district faces civil suits filed on behalf of two victims. In its letter to parents, the district announced plans to enroll children in three grade levels in child-abuse-prevention workshops offered by the YWCA of Silicon Valley. Although the letter was dated Nov. 16, parents reported receiving letters as late as Saturday.

Rather than assuage worry, the letter appears to have churned parental anger.

"The district continues to excuse what has happened," said one parent, who didn't want to be identified because she said she works closely with district leaders. "That leaves the question of who's looking out for our kids."

Evergreen board President Jeff Fischer last week said he was unaware of the letter sent by Superintendent Katherine Gomez.

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Because the district is being sued, Fischer and other trustees have refused to speak about the alleged molestation, the district's response to it and even plans for the abuse-prevention training. Board members refer inquiries to Gomez, who in turn refers them to the district's attorney, Mark Davis.

Davis said the main purpose of the letter was to advise parents about the workshops, known as the Child Assault Prevention Program, and to update parents about Chandler's arrest and Vijayendran's trial.

The district hired a private investigator to look into its handling of the complaint against Chandler -- the parent of one of the alleged victims approached the school in October 2011, and Vijayendran's response was to transfer the student to another class. Chandler was arrested only after the parent of a second child came forth in January with a similar complaint and contacted police.

Davis said because the district is being sued, it's "not in its best interest" to release the investigator's report, to name the investigator nor to say how much the district has spent on its investigation.

Gomez's letter to parents indicates the investigator found that when the district looked into the parent's allegations, it was hampered by Chandler's "seemingly credible and convincing denial of any inappropriate activity."

But the difficulty and delicacy in sorting out allegations of child abuse is the reason that California law requires suspicions be reported to law enforcement, and not investigated by untrained school employees.

Gomez acknowledged in her letter that the district should have reported the behavior, as required by law. "The district has taken action in an effort to make sure this conduct does not occur again."

And while Gomez's letter explains -- without mentioning her by name -- that Vijayendran was found guilty of misdemeanor failure to report, Gomez points out that "the decision was a difficult one and it took the jurors two days to reach their verdict." She also noted that jurors said later that the principal didn't cover up or "intentionally ignore a known incident of child abuse."

The police investigation reveals that Vijayendran contacted Evergreen Human Relations Director Carole Schmitt, who guided her through interviewing the parent, child and Chandler.

Another Evergreen parent, who also declined to be identified, said she's appalled that both Schmitt and Vijayendran, who was reassigned to the district office as coordinator of teacher-support programs, remain employed by Evergreen. And she believes the abuse-prevention training misses the target.

"The child did the right thing. She told her mom, and mom went to the school. It's the principal and the school that let those families down."